Crews with the county’s facilities management department are spraying chemicals to eradicate the bugs and prevent them from invading other parts of the building, which house public agencies.
“County administration and JFS leadership are taking this very seriously, and we regularly treat, but we’ve stepped it up since we’ve become aware of these concerns,” said Kevin Lavoie, spokesman with the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services.
On Nov. 13, Assistant County Administrator Amy Wiedeman distributed a message to county employees at the Reibold building about the discovery of bed bugs at the facility.
In her letter, Wiedeman said the county has been aggressive in identifying and eliminating bed bugs in county buildings.
But, she said, managing bed bugs in an office environment has unique challenges and county employees cannot control how bugs enter the facility.
She said the county would continue treating infected areas through the end of the year.
The insects were found in an employee-access area on the third floor, said Lavoie, the Job and Family Services spokesman.
Some parts of child support enforcement occupies the third .
Job and Family Services has about 230 employees at the Reibold building, including workers from Adult Protective Services, the investigations recovery unit and Medicaid services.
Facilities management employees are spraying bug-killing chemicals in various areas every other Friday after work, and the evidence suggests the treatments are working, Lavoie said.
Also, employees who find bed bugs are instructed to tape the insects to a piece of paper and write down the precise location of where they were discovered, Lavoie said.
The infestation appears limited to the third floor, officials said.
Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County has offices on the first, second and fifth floors of the Reibold, but it has had no issues with bed bugs, said Bill Wharton, public health spokesman.
The Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office, which is on the fourth floor, also has no bed bugs, said Rudy Wehner, public defender.
As a precaution, the office will be treated anyway, he said.
Children Services workers regularly must deal with bed bug problems because of the nature of the job, said Jane Hay, president of the Professional Guild of Ohio Council 12, the union representing workers.
“Workers are given resources that explain how to protect themselves when going into affected homes, but when you have infested clients coming into the building on a regular basis, its an ongoing problem,” she said.
Bed bugs are a community problem, and agencies that serve the public certainly are not immune, officials said.
Bed bugs are hitchhikers and commonly are found in office settings, said Jim Graham, the Cincinnati branch manager of Orkin Pest Control.
Bed bugs typically have many more places to hide in an office setting than in a residential space, which can make it harder to detect and eliminate them, he said.
Citizens should educate themselves about what bed bugs look like and what their bites look like to know when to contact a professional exterminator, he said.
“Bed bugs are not one of those pests that you can effectively control with do-it-yourself products,” he said.
About the Author